Travellers walk through the Salt Lake City International Airport, in Salt Lake City, Utah, on March 17.Sylvia Burbery is delighted that she no longer spends most of her life travelling for work.
Mars, the family-owned snack and pet food company, said cost, environmental and health considerations were behind its decision to keep travel to less than half pre-pandemic levels, meaning 145,000 fewer flights per year. Niklas Andreen, the chief operating officer of global corporate travel management firm CWT, knows the prospects are slim for a quick bounce back to pre-pandemic levels for the business travel sector.
German airline Lufthansa has nevertheless seen demand for its regional flights between Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium jump 15 per cent in recent weeks, and rise 30 per cent for flights within Germany, Chief Executive Carsten Spohr said. “As companies look forward, they are thinking about how to keep some of the cost savings they have realized,” said Anthony Jackson, head of Deloitte’s U.S. aviation practice.Italian fashion group Prada’s chief executive Patrizio Bertelli said he thinks business travel would be “reduced to a minimum.
The consulting arm of CWT is helping companies design travel policies that balance cost with environmental impact, for example proposing the lowest cost direct flight rather than a cheaper indirect flight with higher carbon emissions.However, CWT’s Andreen said it was still important for some managers to get staff, and clients, together again.